Wherever a millionaire hockey player plays, he's going to have an incredibly high quality of life for him.and his family. Work life balance won't differ from team to team. Not to mention most players retire young enough (early 30s) that they can move where they want after retirement.
There's certain factors like weather, or pressure of fans and media (Toronto, Montreal), but ultimately when someone is making millions, there's not much difference between two cities.
These guys retire young and can also maintain residences in multiple cities. There's almost no rational reason to leave 10s of millions on the table. Maybe family proximity, but even that can be overcome (private airfare, relocating family) when someone makes 7M USD.
That has nothing to do with whether I believe someone should live their life to maximize every dollar.